Former LS speaker PA Sangma passes away

Former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma passed away in Delhi on Friday. He died of massive cardiac stroke. He was 69.

Affable Purno Agitok Sangma was an eight-time Lok Sabha MP from Meghalaya's Tura constituency. He was Lok Sabha speaker from 1996 to 1998. He was also the NDA presidential candidate in 2012 and lost to Pranab Mukherjee. He will also be remembered for opposing Sonia Gandhi's candidature for the prime minister's post on account of her being of Italian origin.
Sangma was born on September 1, 1947 in Chapathi village in West Garo Hills. He joined politics in 1973 when he became Meghalaya Youth Congress vice-president. He also served as Meghalaya Chief Minister from 1988 to 1999. He also served as a union minister from 1991 to 1996.
He is currently the chief of National People's Party. His daughter Agatha Sangma is a former Union minister and his son Conrad Sangma is the leader of the Opposition in Meghalaya Assembly.